# Effect of AF Surface Nanostructure on AFRP Interface Properties Under Temperature: A MD Simulation Study

## TL;DR

This study uses molecular dynamics simulations to explore how temperature affects the interface between aramid fiber and epoxy resin composites, and how adding certain nanoparticles can improve their performance under high temperatures.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel MD simulation approach to analyze temperature effects on AFRP interfaces and the role of specific nanoparticles in enhancing interface stability.

## Key findings

- Temperature increases reduce interfacial van der Waals force and binding energy between aramid fiber and epoxy resin.
- Al2O3 and CNT maintain stable dipole moments at high temperatures, improving interfacial adhesion performance.
- Al2O3 and ZnO show minimal changes in Mulliken charge and energy gap with temperature, supporting better insulation performance.

## Abstract

The insulating rod of aramid fiber-reinforced epoxy resin composites (AFRP) is an important component of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS). Under complex working conditions, the high temperature caused by voltage, current, and external climate change becomes one of the important factors that aggravate the interface degradation between aramid fiber (AF) and epoxy resin (EP). In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation software is used to study the effect of temperature on the interfacial properties of AF/EP. At the same time, the mechanism of improving the interfacial properties of three nanoparticles with different properties (insulator Al2O3, semiconductor ZnO, and conductor carbon nanotube (CNT)) is explored. The results show that the increase in temperature will greatly reduce the interfacial van der Waals force, thereby reducing the interfacial binding energy between AF and EP, making the interfacial wettability worse. Furthermore, the addition of the three fillers can improve the interfacial adhesion of the composite material. Among them, Al2O3 and CNT maintain a large dipole moment at high temperature, making the van der Waals force more stable and the adhesion performance attenuation less. The Mulliken charge and energy gap of Al2O3 and ZnO decrease slightly with temperature but are still higher than AF, which is conducive to maintaining good interfacial insulation performance.